Characterising COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘state of exception’, we might expect great hero models of leadership to come to the fore. Instead, drawing on a thematic analysis of 246 news articles, this paper illustrates something different: communities, companies, individuals picked-up the leadership mantle but were reluctant to frame their practices under a leadership rhetoric. The paper explores spontaneous initiatives and leaderly actions that were made visible during the pandemic and proposes practice-based implications for redrawing leadership conceptualisations. These practices, coined as unleading, are characterised under four dimensions: unconditionality and social intention; purposeful action in the absence of an achievement motivation; sensing and attending to local conditions; and confident connecting and collaborating. The analysis and discussion of the four dimensions affirm that while leading and unleading are always present when organising, they are more or less visible and practiced depending on organisational, social and individual circumstances. The paper concludes by surfacing questions and reflections for the future of unleading and implications for leadership theorising and practice.

将 COVID-19 大流行描述为“异常状态”，我们可能会期待伟大的领导英雄模型脱颖而出。相反，通过对 246 篇新闻文章的主题分析，本文说明了一些不同的事情：社区、公司、个人承担了领导的职责，但不愿在领导力的言辞下构建他们的实践。该论文探讨了在大流行期间可见的自发倡议和领导行动，并提出了基于实践的对重新绘制领导概念化的影响。这些被称为非主导性的实践具有四个方面的特征：无条件和社会意图；在没有成就动机的情况下有目的的行动；感知和关注当地情况；和自信的联系和协作。对四个维度的分析和讨论证实，虽然领导和非领导在组织时总是存在的，但它们或多或少是可见的，并取决于组织、社会和个人环境而被实践。本文最后提出了对非领导的未来的问题和思考，以及对领导理论和实践的影响。